Violence in Syria

In early June, Alain Juppé said that the Security Council’s vote on a text condemning the crackdown was just days away. Two weeks later, he said he could count on nine votes and wanted to be able to count on South Africa, India and Brazil before calling a vote. A month and a half later, do you plan on asking the UN on Monday to call a vote?

This weekend’s violence marks a new and even more unacceptable aggravation of the bloody crackdown against Syrian citizens.

The minister noted yesterday in his statement that “in these horrifying circumstances, France hopes more than ever that the United Nations Security Council will shoulder its responsibilities by speaking out loud and clear, as the United Nations Secretary-General has done several times.”

To this end, we are engaged in ongoing consultations with our partners.

President Bashar al-Assad is seriously mistaken when he claims that the crisis he sparked by terrorizing the population will help bolster his power.

Will France present concrete proposals to its European partners at the next Gymnich meeting, given the dramatic developments in Hama? Is a new round of sanctions on the table at that meeting, going beyond individual sanctions? How far-reaching might they be? William Hague said on Monday that a new series of European sanctions would be announced this week. Can you confirm that? When will that happen? Who and what will be targeted by these new sanctions?

Together with our EU partners, we have already adopted four rounds of sanctions against the officials involved in the crackdown in Syria and the economic entities that are financing it. Of course the Syrian issue will be discussed at the Gymnich meeting on September 2 and 3.

Meanwhile, France and its EU partners are preparing a new round of sanctions. They will be adopted by the EU very soon.

Now more than ever, all Syrian political, military, and security officials involved in the crackdown must know that they will be held accountable for their actions.

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